Early career workshop

On Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, March 12-13 2023, early career environmental researchers, students and diplomats have the opportunity to participate in an international air quality negotiation simulation. The purpose is to learn about the differences in perspectives from various countries and ministries, the nature of international negotiations and to come up with creative solutions that can bridge the contrasting stakes of the participants.

The “Air Negotiations Simulation Game on Air Pollution” (AirSim) simulates the negotiations of the UNECE Air Convention. AirSim is a simplified simulation which involves five countries (each with a ministry of environment and ministry of finance), the European Commission and chairs of the negotiation process. AirSim uses realistic stylized facts on emissions, control potentials, costs, and atmospheric dispersion as negotiation support.

Since air pollution is a transboundary problem, successful international negotiations are very important to improve the current situation. Participants will learn about the nature of the negotiations both in terms of substance and the psychological aspect of the process.

Each participant will be given role to play and receive documentation and an official negotiation mandate that resembles the real life situation. Participants will have to reach an agreement that would cut air pollution deposition by 35%. How this agreement is achieved is up to the group. Several negotiation games can be played in parallel. Successful negotiation results will be compared: the group that managed to reach the target at lowest cost will receive a prize. The use of laptops is recommendable for an efficient negotiation process.

The result of the simulation is a brief protocol text that reflects the agreement on joint emission reduction, and also specifies who is going to decrease emissions by how much; who is going to pay what, and which side conditions were agreed.

Lessons from the negotiation games will be presented in the plenary session at the Saltsjöbaden VI workshop.

Candidates interested in participation in the simulation game are requested to register before 19 January 2023. Participation is free but travel costs and lodging will not be reimbursed. Participants will receive background information, their negotiation group number and will be assigned their role. The number of participants is limited to 36.